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[CeeJay]

Are you forced to build a home in this game?

(i hate building stuff)

You don't have to build a house but it really helps to create at least a secure compound otherwise creatures will just come walking through and attack whilst you are crafting or sleeping. You have to build specialist machines such as spinning wheels to turn spider silk into thread and you end up with quite a collection of them so it's useful to have an area to keep them all. Also, watch towers are worth building to get an elevated view of the surroundings and attack spiders from. I tend to find building a multi storey house is useful for both these tasks.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Oh ahit an xbox game is getting good reviews.....

...attackkkkk!

 

[Topher]

Oh ahit an xbox game is getting good reviews.....

...attackkkkk!

This is always the case with first party console games. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Banjo64]

83 after 22 reviews. Very respectable score.

https://opencritic.com/game/13730/grounded

 

[clarky]

I see we have a few early risers amongst the defense force this morning.

Don't think the game is my cup of tea, but looks interesting enough to at least give it a shot.

 

[Havoc2049]

It started as a side project of 10 guys, but recently they said this game become a project with a dedicated full team (more than 10 surely).

I just went through the credits on the latest build and there are around 100 people working on the game itself. I didn't count all the executive and admin staff at Obsidian in the credits.

Good the see the devs having fun with the goffy credits song.

 

[ebevan91]

You don't have to build a house but it really helps to create at least a secure compound otherwise creatures will just come walking through and attack whilst you are crafting or sleeping. You have to build specialist machines such as spinning wheels to turn spider silk into thread and you end up with quite a collection of them so it's useful to have an area to keep them all. Also, watch towers are worth building to get an elevated view of the surroundings and attack spiders from. I tend to find building a multi storey house is useful for both these tasks.

They must've added a lot of stuff since I last played. I played when early access first released and it's been nearly 2 years since I've last played.

 

[eastcoastkody]

I've never understood the appeal of exploring a tiny world filled with giant bugs. I would never buy this game in a million years.

I'll try it out sometime though since there's a story mode. Not expecting a ton, but I've never played it.

Everyone in a packed movie theater circa 1989- *enjoying Honey I Shrunk the Kids*

*this fckn guy*

 

[bentanchorbolt]

They must've added a lot of stuff since I last played. I played when early access first released and it's been nearly 2 years since I've last played.

They've been adding stuff to this game non-stop since you last played. It looks and plays leagues better now, and there is a plethora of mechanics and content that simply did not exist when the game launched.

 

[Moses85]

Will play once I'm done with Deathloop.

 

[In Cold Blood]

Like Sea of Thieves it's not my type of game but it seems to be liked by alot of people.
This game wasn't mean to be as big and polished as it is now, but the popularity that it got in Beta made Obsidian put more resources and scope into the game.
Obsidian were an absolute amazing buy by MS. Their output is excellent.

 

[Ribi]

The next Sea of Thieves…

no, this is actually releasing as a full game with content.

 

[Arachnid]

Wow, those are some padded reviews for a survival FPS, these things are a dime a dozen and the gameplay loop is never good.

I've already played this a solid amount too. It's fun with a group, but 9/10? Come on lol

 

[adamsapple]

Like Sea of Thieves it's not my type of game but it seems to be liked by alot of people.
This game wasn't mean to be as big and polished as it is now, but the popularity that it got in Beta made Obsidian put more resources and scope into the game.
Obsidian were an absolute amazing buy by MS. Their output is excellent.

Agreed on all accounts. Not every game is for every player and Obsidian has been a reliable studio. Wondering how far along Avowed is. I'm probably a lot more interested in that game than most of the MS first party development pipeline right now.

 

[CatLady]

I just went through the credits on the latest build and there around 100 people working on the game itself. I didn't count all the executive and admin staff at Obsidian in the credits.

Good the see the devs having fun with the goffy credits song.

That's hilarious. I love Obsidian

 

[Stuart360]

This is one of the few survival games i have actually been able to get into (Subnautica another one). And i think part of that is becaue this actually has a story, campaign, and a actual end, something most survival games dont have lol.
So yeah been waiting for 1.0.
Its surprsing how atmospheric this game is. The sound design is awsome and that background music they play, its enchanting and mysterious.
Also graphics lovers, dont be put off by the cartoony look. I guarantee you will be surprised at how good the game looks when you're playing it in front of you, its actually pretty beautiful.

 

[AutumnLeaves]

I've never understood the appeal of exploring a tiny world filled with giant bugs. I would never buy this game in a million years.

I'll try it out sometime though since there's a story mode. Not expecting a ton, but I've never played it.

At least the concept is new? I mean, that alone makes it worth trying out. Unlike the same old concept that is rehashed over and over.

And how can you love this concept? Shrunk the size of an ant and exploring your backyard? Reminds me of when I was a kid and played with action figures.

 

[reinking]

I played this a lot during the early access. I keep meaning to go back to it but I have not played it in a year or more. Did they ever add a character customization? Or, more charcters? I'm probably going to give it a new game run starting from scratch.

I think taking Windows/Xbox sites review scores into account is a bit sily because they are too high but those trashing the game withouth playing it should back off. Being tiny in a backyard is a lot of fun and they pull of the survival genre pretty well.

 

[remember_spinal]

Being tiny in a backyard is a lot of fun and they pull of the survival genre pretty well.

Yep, i know from rl experience

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Nice, been waiting for full release.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Yeah, they literally give every microsoft game a 100/100 lol but it’s not as if they/he hide their bias

This is their sea of thieves review.

 

[adamsapple]

This is their sea of thieves review.

Sir, please. Don't put forth logic and reasoning on a warrior's path.

 

[pasterpl]

Grounded looks to be shaping as another very good/excellent game on Xbox. Good work obsidian. It also seems like a great game with long legs, so no 10-20h play though but an ongoing experience. Great value for gamers.

 

[Stuart360]

This is their sea of thieves review.

It would be inreresting to see what reviewers would give Sea of Thieves today.
I suppose thats the price you pay for launching a game in Early Access without calling it Early Access.

 

[MarkMe2525]

It would be inreresting to see what reviewers would give Sea of Thieves today.
I suppose thats the price you pay for launching a game in Early Access without calling it Early Access.

Well.... thanks to remember_spinal , we at least know what Windows Central would give it.

 

[geary]

no, this is actually releasing as a full game with content.

I meant a new solid game, overlooked by many because is not AAA.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I've already played this a solid amount too. It's fun with a group, but 9/10? Come on lol

So it's a 10?

 

[Handel]

Will be playing the hell out of this with my best friends. People comparing this game to Sea of Thieves are way off mark, given this game has an actual proper storyline and progression. I could never fully get into Sea of Thieves as it lacked a sense of progression, nor did it have a storyline/characters to keep me invested, it was just sailing around doing random quests and sometimes facing other players but if you lost to them it wasn't that big a setback just an annoyance.

 

[01011001]

looking at those scores, probably the same people that reviewed halo infinite.

the same people that review any game...

which is why game reviews are useless and only used by fanboys as ammo in their fanboy wars, when in reality these reviews are usually written by some casual who's job it is to finish a game as fast as possible, not actually analysing anything in-depth, and then writing a review in time for the embargo to have an article/video ready

 

[wArTHEIST]

when does this release? on gamepass it still says game preview.

 

[GenericUser]

Hate the artstyle, looks like a kids game. Pass.

 

[Freeman76]

I am glad people like it, But I will not play it.

What a worthwhile post.

 

[CeeJay]

lol at all the people dissing the game for various reasons and refusing to even give it a shot!

It's been about a year or so since I last played but even back then there was a ton of story

Spoiler

(I got as far as harvesting muscle sprouts)

. Obsidian have done an excellent job with Grounded and you can tell straight away that it had a lot of passion put into it. It has a defined story with genuine progression, it's funny, it's beautiful, it plays well nicely with thought out survival mechanics. It feels like an old school feature complete (even when I played it a year ago) PS360 era game from before developers started to push MTs and endless cosmetics. It might not be what some would class as AAA but if it is AA it is certainly well polished and is in a much better state than many so called AAA.

I really don't understand some of you guys! You moan about the state of the games industry and how it's changed for the worse but when a game comes along that is developed with those old sensibilities that you say you miss by a top tier developer who has had a pretty consistent track record over the years and you flat out refuse to even give it a try.

 

[AJUMP23]

What a worthwhile post.

What an excellent response.

 

[00Magnum Gaming]

So you're saying playing this solo this is as good as Subnautica? I play this early access and it didn't seem better than anything, things must have changed dramatically.

Gamespot review:


This sounds like bad game design. It's exactly the issues I had with it early on.

No its not bad game design.You have to parry. Whether you get the timing early or late depends on you and how often you decided to fight. You can beat an orb weaver easy with no armor. Its not game design.

 

[Vasto]

 

[SenjutsuSage]

On a serious note you should try and work on that fear of bugs thing.

I'm kind of jealous though, I watch movies and nothing scares me, must be novel to be scared of something so minuscule and populous in today's world.

I'm never afraid of a scary movie. When things get interactive though and I'm in the hotseat, that's when it's different for me. I have too strong of an imagination to play games that scare me. The cutesy look of this game will help tremendously. When I play a game, I start to feel like I'm really part of the world, like I become the character.

 

[Havoc2049]

PC Gamer review:


Here is a deep dive review by a survival genre gamer/content creator, with tons of info and insight. He basically says that Grounded is up there with the best games in the genre:

 

[RiccochetJ]

I've never been into survival games outside of State of Decay mostly due to the fact that most of them don't have an overall narrative goal. This entices me due to the fact that even though you can spend hours just messing around with the world, you do have that main goal to work towards. Looking forward to checking it out.

 

[Robb]

Good scores, I tried it out and love the ‘honey I shrunk the kids’ concept but it’s not my kind of game.

Obsidian was a great get for MS though. Can’t wait for Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed!

 

[Moochi]

It is more terrifying to know that a spider exists but that I can't see it than to see the actual spider.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[johnjohn]

Such a good trailer, seems like a lot of stuff has been added to the full release.

 

[Stuart360]

What the hell, what a crazy good trailer!.

 

[Fredrik]

I thought this was first person but it’s third person now going by this trailer. Will try!

 

[Stuart360]

I thought this was first person but it’s third person now going by this trailer. Will try!

The game is first person. Not sure if there is an option to plai in third person though. I think they went first person for immersion due to how small you are in this massive world.

 

[Fredrik]

The game is first person. Not sure if there is an option to plai in third person though. I think they went first person for immersion due to how small you are in this massive world.

There is no first person scenes shown in the trailer. Can it have been changed since you played it?
Edit: Wikipedia says it’s both third and first person. If it’s not possible to play in third person it would be an awful trailer. Would be like showing Doom Eternal with a trailer making it look like Returnal.

 

[johnjohn]

There is no first person scenes shown in the trailer. Can it have been changed since you played it?

It can be played in first person and third person.

 

[ebevan91]

It is more terrifying to know that a spider exists but that I can't see it than to see the actual spider.

Most definintely. I'll be like "oh god there's supposed to be a spider around here somewhere" and other times I'll just see it from a distance and go "welp I'm not going over there."

 

[BigbyTheSheriff]

Yeah, they literally give every microsoft game a 100/100 lol but it’s not as if they/he hide their bias

You were saying?